Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Nail Art Wednesday: Girly Graffiti Nails

You know how sometimes you envision something in your head but your execution leaves much to be desired? This may be one of those instances where I had a completely different idea for where this design was going. I was inspired by Carolina's impeccable double stamping over at Colores de Carol so I wanted to give it a go myself. Unfortunately, I learned that as easy as it looks, finding coordinating colors that don't clash and picking a design that will work double stamped wasn't as easy as I thought. I was about to write this one off as a failure and go back to the drawing board, seeing as it just looked..messy to me. But Mr. J (strangely) ended up liking it so much that he dubbed it a "girly take on graffiti". So here it is in all its busy patterns:

With Mr. J's penchant for chunky glitter, I think that's why he liked this design.

What I Used:White base polish: Orly Au ChampagneBlue stamping polish: Color Club Cold MetalPink stamping polish: Color Club Hot Like LavaGlitter top coat: Nicole by OPI Rainbow in the Sky-lie
Bundle Monster Plate #205 using the retro-looking floral design
Hearts water decal on accent nail from Born Pretty Store

How I Did It:Step 1: After applying your favorite base coat to protect your nails, apply the base color for the design. For our purposes, we'll be using a white shimmery matte base.

Step 2: Stamp on the floral design using the blue foil as stamping polish and Bundle Monster plate #205. (Excuse the bad stamping on the pinky. :P)

Step 3: Using the pink foil next as stamping polish, stamp on the floral design over the previous blue version. You can opt to clean up the excess from the stamping at this point. (You'll have to do clean up later on, anyway!)

Step 4: To add some shine to the design, apply one coat of the glitter top coat. I opted for a chunky, rainbow glitter top coat to match the over the top aspect of the design. Clean up the edges to take out the excess from the stamping steps.

Step 5 (optional): Apply the hearts water decal on to the accent nail of your choice (we're using the ring finger for our purposes). Let dry, apply top coat to protect and seal in the design and you're all set!

The glitter top coat was really more of an afterthought but I think it actually help pull it all together. I'm thinking picking a really vibrant blue was the downfall of the design. It just took over everything! Next time, I think I'll stick to subtler colors to stamp with, and maybe ones that aren't such a big contrast to each other. Lesson definitely learned.

I wanted to find something to hold so you can see the thumb as well.

The ever-present pink fabric rose! (Sick of seeing it yet? :P)

Since I had pink in the design, I thought it would be nice to pose with this pink-bowed bear...

...along with this blue-bowed bear.

And with the two of them together. (Don't they look sweet?)

Happy Leap Day! What did you think of my girly graffiti nails? Messy or fun? Do you ever try to do a particular design but get frustrated when it doesn't turn out exactly the way you thought it would? Do you remove it all together or try to remedy it?

I looooove this look, but totally hear your frustration when a manicure doesn't turn out quite like you envisioned it. I'm not a perfectionist but if I'm not happy with a look I will remove it from my nails ASAP... Sometimes I don't even wait to take photos of it. Lol

Aww, shucks. Thanks, Marta! The only reason I took photos for this was was because the hubby thought it looked cool. I wasn't sure but so many of you ended up liking it, too, and I'm just floored by that! :) Otherwise, I'm like you and take it off if it doesn't come out right, lol.

Hey, even if people think it's 'weird', you can still take it as a compliment. After all, weird is sometimes just another word for unique. ;) Gotta love a one-of-a-kind manicure that you don't see everywhere.